Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an intermediate transferring belt and an image-forming apparatus including the intermediate transferring belt.
Description of Related Art
In an electrophotographic image-forming apparatus, for example, a latent image formed on an image retainer (photoreceptor) is developed with a toner, the resultant toner image is temporarily retained on an endless intermediate transferring belt, and then the toner image on the intermediate transferring belt is transferred onto an image support, such as a sheet of paper.
An image-forming apparatus proposed for further improvement of image quality includes an intermediate transferring belt including a substrate and an elastic layer disposed on the substrate and composed of an elastic material, such as rubber. The intermediate transferring belt comes into close contact with a sheet of coarse paper and exhibits improved image transferability.
Unfortunately, the intermediate transferring belt has poor wear resistance because the exposed elastic layer is composed of a soft material such as rubber, and the surface of the transferring belt may be scraped during the use thereof.
A technique for solving such a problem involves coating of the elastic layer with a surface layer for protection (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2009-069455, 2004-361870, 2004-157289, and 2002-214926).
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-62499 proposes a cross-linked resin cured by polymerizing, for example, a polyfunctional acrylate and a urethane acrylate.
Unfortunately, the surface layer composed of a cross-linked resin prepared from a copolymer of a polyfunctional acrylate and a urethane acrylate has less followability to the elastic layer, resulting in damages (e.g. cracking) at a bent portion of the surface layer during the circulation of the intermediate transferring belt.
Meanwhile, when the surface layer is composed of a soft material in order to improve the followability to the elastic layer, the surface layer may be scraped due to friction with materials in the apparatus or a sheet of paper (an image support) or due to plastic deformation by stress. The uneven surface layer results in uneven image density and reduces the quality of visible image.